Seals joined a host of other Democratic castaways who've landed on the state payroll after losing bids for Congress and the General Assembly. Friends and family of Democrats with clout also have found themselves with paid appointments to state panels.

Hiring the connected is not new. But for Quinn, embracing legal political patronage contrasts with his long-running message of populist reform that attacks the way insiders do the people's business.

And with Quinn complaining that lawmakers haven't given him enough money and Illinois still billions of dollars behind in paying its bills, questions linger over whether the governor even needs to fill some highly paid administrative positions — let alone with political allies.

"It really (raises) the question of, Is there something in the nature of elected office that makes you so sequestered from the rest of the public that you don't see appointments beyond your nose?" said Cindi Canary, the former executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

"I mean, none of this is to say that at least some of these appointees don't bring talents to the table," Canary said. "But when the governor is giving appointments to highly positioned political colleagues, Democrats, winners or losers, it really does sort of beg for a greater level of disclosure and what it is about these particular people that made them qualified for this position."

Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said that the governor "rejects patronage" and that his goal "is to recruit the very best people for the job."

"The governor's approach to appointments is to seek out people who exemplify his philosophy of integrity, competence and public service," Anderson said. "On an ongoing basis, he recruits dedicated public servants who are honest and produce results, and who comply with the requirements and extensive criteria that are in place for appointments."

Shortly after taking office from his disgraced predecessor in January 2009, Quinn pledged to "fumigate" Rod Blagojevich appointees in an effort to restore integrity in state government.

That never happened. Then in April, Quinn vetoed legislation aimed at cleaning house among hundreds of people picked by Blagojevich and imprisoned Republican ex-Gov. George Ryan.

Quinn argues he has made the appointment process more transparent by posting vacancies for boards and commissions online and allowing regular citizens to apply.

More recently, Quinn has been criticized for hiring former Democratic lawmakers who voted as lame ducks for a massive income tax increase in January.

Quinn named former Rep. Careen Gordon, a Democrat formerly of Morris, to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board only days after she voted for a 67 percent increase in the personal income tax rate.

Gordon, defeated in her November re-election bid, had campaigned against raising the state income tax. When her Senate confirmation ran into opposition, Quinn moved Gordon into a job as lawyer for the state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation at $84,000 a year.

Last month, Quinn named former Rep. Mike Smith, a Democrat from Canton, to the state's Educational Labor Relations Board at a salary of $93,926, a raise from his legislative pay. Unlike Gordon, Smith, who chaired the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, had supported the income tax increase prior to his re-election defeat.

Sen. Tim Bivins of Dixon, the ranking Republican on the Democrat-led Senate Executive Appointments Committee, said that while Smith is "a nice guy, the statute is very clear that you have to have five years' collective bargaining experience, which he doesn't have."

"I think if you look around, there's plenty of qualified people who would love to have these positions," Bivins said. "Political appointees, if they're qualified and do a good job, he's got a right to appoint who he wants. He's made some good choices and a whole lot of bad ones."

In the case of Seals' hiring and others, Quinn's awarding of jobs resembles a consolation prize for falling short in a bid for Congress.

Seals won the 10th Congressional District Democratic nomination last year by defeating veteran state Rep. Julie Hamos of Wilmette. Hamos quit her $78,163 job in the Legislature to seek the congressional seat. Two months after losing the primary, Quinn appointed Hamos director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, where she now makes $142,338.

Liberal political activist Christine Cegelis, of Rolling Meadows, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, twice ran and lost for Congress from the west suburban 6th Congressional District.

After losing to Tammy Duckworth in the 2006 Democratic primary, Cegelis worked as Midwest campaign field director for Americans for Democratic Action. After becoming governor, Quinn tapped Cegelis as deputy director of the state Department of Central Management Services for $121,029 a year.

Last fall, in the midst of Quinn's election campaign, the still politically active Cegelis hosted an Elk Grove Township Democrats' door-to-door canvass of voters on behalf of her boss. The Quinn administration said Thursday that Cegelis is no longer at the agency.

Anderson, the Quinn spokeswoman, said each of the former congressional candidates offered "strong" backgrounds and experience.

Friends and family of Democratic insiders also have benefited under Quinn with paid appointments to boards and commissions. One place they've landed is the 13-member Human Rights Commission, a longtime source of political nepotism.

Earlier this year, Quinn came under fire for his appointment of Terry Cosgrove, the head of an abortion rights political action committee that spent more than $400,000 backing the governor's election. Cosgrove is paid $49,960 for serving on the board, which adjudicates civil rights complaints involving housing and employment.

Quinn also reappointed four holdovers from the Blagojevich era: Marylee Freeman, who is married to Illinois Supreme Court Justice Charles Freeman; Marti Baricevic, who is married to former St. Clair County Board Chairman John Baricevic, now a circuit judge; Rozanne Ronen, sister of former Sen. Carol Ronen, a Blagojevich friend who remains on the Democratic State Central Committee; and Diane Viverito, the daughter of former Sen. Lou Viverito, D-Burbank.

Another controversial appointment by Quinn was naming Carrie Zalewski, who is married to Rep. Michael Zalewski, D-Chicago, to a $117,043 annual position on the Pollution Control Board. She had spent three years as a $61,200-a-year lawyer for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

While Republicans are contesting Quinn's appointment of former Rep. Smith to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Lynne Sered chairs the five-member panel that considers labor disputes involving local school districts. Sered, who earns $104,358 per year, is a former staff lawyer for the National Labor Relations Board appointed by Blagojevich and reappointed by Quinn. She is married to Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston.

The Quinn administration said Zalewski and Sered were both "well-qualified" for the jobs.

"It's one thing to say we've got to fill this slot, this person brings 'X' skill set, we've talked to 18 other people and this is the one," Canary said of the governor's appointments. "But without illuminating that process, you've got a population that — while it finds Quinn to be an honest man — is scandal-weary and budget-panicked."